36 Email Marketing Ideas to Increase Business Revenue

Finding fresh email marketing ideas for your next campaign can stump even the most seasoned pros.

The big picture goal may seem obvious, and that is to increase revenue for your business.

However, there are many smaller goals to be conscious of when planning your next marketing move.

Goals like providing value, establishing authority, and increasing customer loyalty are all important to consider when going after that big picture goal.

Once you understand which smaller goals you want to go after in your next campaign, moving forward should be a little easier.

Remember, results don’t happen overnight. Marketing success is a process and requires adaptability, consistency, and persistence.

Below are some email marketing ideas and tips to hopefully inspire you to take your campaign to the next level.

36 Email Marketing Ideas to Increase Revenue

1. Start with a solid list of contacts.

You can’t send emails without someone to send them to!

People who have already signed up for an email newsletter on your website are a perfect segment, to begin with.

2. No list yet?

That’s okay, you can create a form for your website so that visitors and people who click on your ads can sign up for your emails.

Give your list time to grow – a good list doesn’t happen overnight.

Don’t attempt to purchase a list of contacts from a third-party source,.

And it’s because if they haven’t consented to subscribe to your list, it’s highly unlikely they’ll engage much at all.

It also goes against email marketing laws.

3. Provide an incentive to sign up. 

Providing access to a free eBook, free shipping, or some other free or discounted incentive will get people to give you their contact info.

And this brings you closer to making them a loyal customer.

You’ll notice an example of this email marketing idea that we’ve created below.

Another example is the eBook sidebar you see to the right of your screen if you’re reading this on a desktop.

4. Make your email list sign-up quick and easy. 

With each form field, you add, fewer and fewer people will want to fill it out.

Make sure you start with just the essentials – their name and email.

If you plan on sending birthday coupons, adding a birthday field is an option as well.

A field for their phone number is usually unnecessary in email marketing.

And people are much more hesitant to sign up for something if they think they’re going to be texted or called by telemarketers as a result.

5. Choose the right email marketing platform. 

MailChimp, Active Campaign, and Constant Contact are a few popular email platforms that work well with small businesses.

Do your research and see which platform works best for your budget and your list size before implementing your email marketing ideas.

6. Pay attention to the rules.

Only email those who have consented to be put on your list – no one wants spam emails!

Not only is it annoying, but it goes against the CAN-SPAM act.

This prevents marketers from sending unsolicited emails and requires you to give your subscribers a quick and easy way to opt-out of your email blasts.

You can easily lose the trust of potential customers if they think you’re spamming them.

And, most email marketing platforms will shut down your account if they think you’re spamming people.

7. Be clear with your subject lines and header information. 

Trying to deceive your subscribers goes against spam laws as well, and it’ll make impressions of your business less than favorable.

Plus, some inboxes automatically throw sketchy-looking emails in a spam folder, where the recipient won’t likely read them.

8. Try to avoid ALL CAPS in your subject.

This sometimes triggers spam filters, and it tends to just look like a spam email in general.

Unless it works with your email subject, it can be better to avoid all caps.

9. Don’t forget the preview text.

A subject line is the bread and butter of grabbing your email subscriber’s attention.

However, a well-worded preview text can bring them in even further.

Ensure your preview text doesn’t get cut off in your subscriber’s inbox by keeping it short and to the point.

10. Make sure your website design is functional.

Make your website easy to use, and your forms easily visible and functional so you can continue to grow your email list.

If you’re not sure if your website is due for an update, check out these signs on when to redesign your website.

11. Stay consistent with branding. 

You want your subscribers to have a sense of your business from the first second they lay eyes on your email.

Staying consistent with colors, fonts, and types of images will help people know just who they are dealing with.

If you don’t know how to create a branding guide for your business, read this post next.

12. Do your research. 

See which email marketing ideas work and which do not for other businesses like yours.

Email marketing ideas don’t always come out of thin air. One easy way to see what others are doing is to become part of their email list.

Here’s a full guide on how to do a competitor analysis to help you get started.

13. Subscribe to other successful email campaigns. 

If you are ever running low on ideas for designs, subject lines or images, don’t worry – we’ve all been there.

There’s nothing wrong with getting a little inspiration from other successful marketing campaigns.

If you plan to subscribe to a lot of newsletters, it might help to keep organized by making folders and labels in your inbox.

14. Get GIF-fy with it. 

GIFs are moving images that add excitement to an otherwise plain email.

However, not all email providers support GIFs; those that don’t will only display the first frame.

So if you use a GIF, make sure the first frame of it works on its own in the context of your message.

15. Add a video with a great still. 

Along with GIFs, videos add interest to an email and will keep your reader engaged longer.

Making the image still that the video link is attached to will ensure more people will click and watch your video.

16. Optimize for mobile. 

According to eMailmonday, mobile email opens account for 22% to 77% of all opens, depending on your target audience, product, and email.

Keeping things large enough to read, and in an easy space for thumb-scrolling will help mobile readers get the message.

Most email marketing platforms optimize for mobile automatically, but be sure to preview your emails in the mobile version.

17. Make your message skim-able.

Not everyone has the time to read every word of your well-thought-out email copy.

Many of your readers are on the go and maybe checking their emails while standing in line, on the elevator, or otherwise preoccupied.

That leads to the next point…

18. Have one clear subject in your email. 

It can seem like a good idea to pack as much information as you possibly can into your emails, but sticking to one central theme is best for digestibility.

If your business is coming out with several different products at the same time, try highlighting just one of them…

…and having a button that leads the audience to the rest of the products on your website.

19. Show, don’t just tell.

Along with being skim-able, make the visuals in your email pop. Have high-quality images that bring interest to your email and tell a story.

Hiring a photographer or paying for quality stock images can help the look and feel of your email immensely.

20. Make sure your subscribers will see your layout properly.

Taking measures to test what your email will look like in different inboxes will ensure everyone will see what you want them to.

This includes keeping images at around 600-800 pixels so they don’t bombard certain inboxes that don’t accommodate large images.

21. Check your links. 

Several email marketing platforms, such as MailChimp, offer a link checking option before you send out your emails.

Sending out broken links or empty buttons won’t get your readers where you want them to go.

22. Send test emails to more than just one person.

Ever feel like you need a fresh pair of eyes to help you interpret something?

That applies to your emails, too.

Great email marketing ideas can come from your friends and colleagues, so getting their opinion can help you tremendously.

And also, sending test emails will give you a chance to check everything included in your email before sending it to actual subscribers.

It’s also recommended for you to have a test email sent to all email service providers to see if there’s an error.

Here are some things to look out for:–

• Typos and grammatical errors
• Links and call to action
• Images
• Responsiveness
  

23. Study subject lines.

The subject is the first thing someone sees in your email marketing campaign. No one wants to click on a subject line that doesn’t appeal to them!

Once you know what your email is about, craft a subject line that will pull in readers, without sounding too much like clickbait. Here are some tips on how to create effective email subject lines.

24. Personalization

Cater your message to your specific audience. Would your offer appeal to their demographic? Do you use their name in the email?

Do you know what they bought last, or if they put something in their shopping cart and abandoned it?

25. A/B Testing

Utilizing A/B split testing can help you understand what kinds of subject lines, images, and offers appeal to your customers.

Every email marketing platform offers this function. When you go to make an email campaign, it’s usually an option before you even start.

Keep in mind to only test one variable at a time, so that you can see how it affected your clicks and opens.

26. Reengagement emails

It’s common for only a small percent of your list to open your emails, and an even smaller segment to click on your links.

When so many emails are competing for attention each day, it can be hard to keep your subscribers’ interest.

To combat this, you can craft an email specifically to reach inactive subscribers and pull them back.

Start by creating a list of your inactive subscribers in your email marketing platform (each platform has a different way of doing this).

Reengagement emails can look like regular marketing emails, have special offers, or simply ask a subscriber what their subscription preference is.

27. Consider automation.

Also called a drip sequence, email automation is an email or series of emails that send automatically, based on certain triggers.

This can be new sign-ups to your newsletter, a purchase on your website, or even a subscriber’s birthday.

It takes the responsibility out of your hands to be on top of every single event that an email could correspond to, such as…

28. Welcome emails

This is the first message your subscribers see when they enter into a newsletter list.

You want it to be simple, engaging, and friendly while setting the tone of what your brand is.

Let them know what kinds of emails they can expect from you to gain trust.

29. Abandoned cart emails

Sending someone an email after they’ve put something in their shopping cart, but not purchased it…

…is a great way to re-engage a potential customer and make them see why your product is awesome.

Linking your eCommerce platform to your email marketing platform can give you this option.

But if you’re not sure how to do this, it might be worth it to hire a comprehensive digital marketing specialist team.

30. Upsell

Knowing what a customer may like based on their past purchases is a great way to tackle the upsell.

Keeping track of who buys what, and crafting emails to go along with those purchases is a great way to tackle the upsell in email marketing.

31. Focus on value instead of simply discounts. 

Giving your customers information relevant to them adds value to your emails, making people want to open them again and again.

Adding blogs to your website and showcasing them in your emails is a fantastic opportunity to show your audience that you are an expert on your subject.

And that, the experience of engaging with your business is a valuable one.

32. …but don’t leave out discounts altogether.

Make loyal customers even more loyal with exclusive offers and discounts, just for those who have opened your emails.

Highlight the discount in the subject and/or preview text of the email to increase the likelihood of an email open – everyone loves a good deal.

33. Avoid email fatigue.

Maybe you have a ton of email marketing ideas – great!

However, sending your subscribers too many emails is the fastest way to make someone unsubscribe from your list.

It’s not recommended to send more than 2-3 emails per week to the same list.

34. Stay relevant and adaptable. 

Sending out the same old boring emails month after month will bore the reader and the person making the emails!

New email marketing ideas may be difficult to come up with each month, but try different:

• subjects,
• different designs, and
• different content

…to keep things fresh, and to learn which strategy works best for optimal subscriber engagement.

35. Hire a graphic designer. 

It’s not always plausible to go it alone when designing the perfect email.

Almost all of the best designs in emails come from a seasoned graphic designer.

If that’s not a skill you possess, it may be worth it to hire someone rather than try to teach yourself Photoshop.

36. Hire a full-service marketing team. 

Sometimes email marketing ideas are best left to the pros.

Paired with…

• search engine optimization,
• a strong social media presence,
• engaging ads, and
• creative content

…your emails will find their way to the right inboxes, and you can sit back and watch your business flourish.

Work with our professional email marketing firm to help you get more from your email marketing efforts.

Wrapping Up

It’s important to remember that Increasing revenue is really all about making a positive experience for your customers in order to gain their trust and make a sale.

Hopefully, with these email marketing ideas in mind, you can go forth and make a fantastic and successful campaign.

Get in touch with us to learn more!